Computational Phenomenology of Temporal Experience in Autism: Quantifying the Emotional and Narrative Characteristics of Lived Unpredictability

TL;DR

This study combines phenomenological interviews and computational analysis to quantify how unpredictability in lived experience affects autistic individuals' narratives and emotional expression, revealing core temporal challenges.

Contribution

It introduces an integrated methodology bridging phenomenological and computational approaches to study temporal experience in autism, overcoming previous research limitations.

Findings

Autistic individuals experience significant unpredictability in temporality.

Autistic narratives show more negative emotional valence, especially in immediacy and suddenness.

Autistic autobiographies resemble real-life stories more than imaginary ones.

Abstract

Disturbances in temporality, such as desynchronization with the social environment and its unpredictability, are considered core features of autism with a deep impact on relationships. However, limitations regarding research on this issue include: 1) the dominance of deficit-based medical models of autism, 2) sample size in qualitative research, and 3) the lack of phenomenological anchoring in computational research. To bridge the gap between phenomenological and computational approaches and overcome sample-size limitations, our research integrated three methodologies. Study A: structured phenomenological interviews with autistic individuals using the Transdiagnostic Assessment of Temporal Experience. Study B: computational analysis of an autobiographical corpus of autistic narratives built for this purpose. Study C: a replication of a computational study using narrative flow measures to assess the perceived phenomenological authenticity of autistic autobiographies. Interviews revealed that the most significant differences between the autistic and control groups concerned unpredictability of experience. Computational results mirrored these findings: the temporal lexicon in autistic narratives was significantly more negatively valenced - particularly the "Immediacy & Suddenness" category. Outlier analysis identified terms associated with perceived discontinuity (unpredictably, precipitously, and abruptly) as highly negative. The computational analysis of narrative flow found that the autistic narratives contained within the corpus quantifiably resemble autobiographical stories more than imaginary ones. Overall, the temporal challenges experienced by autistic individuals were shown to primarily concern lived unpredictability and stem from the contents of lived experience, and not from autistic narrative construction.